faderift | OPEN: Cloudreach Event

OPEN: Cloudreach Event

WHO: Anyone at Skyhold
WHAT: Cloudreach showers bring weird shit.
WHEN: Cloudreach 15 onward
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: For information about the illness, its effects, and its cure, please make sure to also read the OOC Post.

This high in the mountains, snowstorms are to be expected. But this one is large and lingering, hanging over the valley and the fortress for days. In Skyhold, with its eternal spring, the snow becomes rain before it hits the ground, leaving inhabitants and visitors to wade through puddles and mud in the courtyards. In the valley, snow and ice accumulate under cloud cover—and worse, when the clouds finally thin, a whole winter's accumulation of snow begins to melt in the sunlight.

Within a day, the ground is sodden and mucky enough to give the survivors of the Fallow Mire (or Ferelden in general) unpleasant flashbacks, and those who live in tents are issued additional hastily-constructed wooden pallets to raise their floors above the mud. It is worse outside the fortress: streams and rivers have overflowed their banks, rapids run twice as fast as normal, and flash flooding has made even road travel treacherous.

On Cloudreach 17 a mudslide buries the pass into Skyhold from the west, and on the 19th a sheet of snow loosened from a mountainside collapses into the shadowed passage from the east. An Inquisition supply caravan is caught in the latter, scattering wagons and goods across the hillside and leaving a dozen people and horses in need of rescue and medical care.

Healers may find themselves stretched thin, as in addition to the usual rash of blisters and sniffles that come from days of rain and flooding, an illness begins to sweep through Skyhold's ranks from around the 16th onward. It's marked first by climbing fever, then by flashes at the edges of vision—green light and jagged formations that aren't there, beings of light and shadow gathering around people or clustering in corners—and distant voices, coherent for brief moments if you're quiet and still and not trying too hard to listen.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I know them for what they are." She lets it happen, the handholding. A lot of the anger is...mitigated by knowing that she's keeping her word. By a slowly dawning realization that Anders himself likely would not have gone half so far without Justice. By the fact they fought it out and he helped her learn afterward. Strange steps, new steps.

Forgiven he isn't but hated he wasn't either.

A strange new limbo they've found themselves in, one where she's comfortable enough to let slip her trick. It's a cheat and she knows it but so long as she has Compassion's song to compare demons against? She has never been afraid. "They sound different. No matter the face or the voice- a demon sounds like a demon. I will die before I submit to one."

"I hope it never comes down to that." It's all he can say, because he's holding back from asking what Justice sounds like, if there's some sort of blending, if the damage... except he's already expressed his worries about damaging the spirit. She knows his fears there. If she can hear some sort of change... Then what? Confirmation of what he suspects and Justice vehemently denies? What does it get him other than an aggravated Justice when he's already tired? Anders isn't sure he could win a fight for control right now.

"Personally, I'd always identified them by the fact that they were actually offering me nice things. The first time I met Isabela, for instance, I was a little worried." He gives Adelaide a tiny smile, and his voice is warm, as if he's relating an entirely pleasant memory. Isabela had been, at least. "I'd actually gone weeks without a kindly, gentle reminder about who was in charge in Kinloch Hold, so add to that someone who is kind and enjoying my company? When they recaptured me the very next day I knew for certain it was still my life."

Joking about the pain, minimizing every beating, is how he'd survived.

"Templars, demons, or plague. Te top three most lethal things to a spirit healer- or so I was taught. Templars for failing, Demons for faltering, Plague simply due to exposure." She says, sitting, fevered and more than a little exposed to this rampant illness that courses through Skyhold. An answer must be found-

As soon as the thought coils, the shadow shifts. Leans in, quietly anticipatory of the moment she might drift- indistinct shape twisting into robes and broad shoulders, an angled jaw.

Another vulgar gesture with her free hand, another moment spent with her cheek pressed to Anders' shoulder. "Most spirits are not terribly nice, this is true. Kind? Yes. Nice? Not terribly. Compassion is more curious than kind, more intent than gentle. Heal the hurt, heal it now, you must, we must, we must. But even they do not much care for how Justice stepped in and acted the fool to your patients just now."

Why else were they back here?

"He... shit." It's the only word for it, and he loses his smile and amusement completely. "Did he... What did he do? How did he act the fool?"

She's here with him, relaxing, which at least means that no one got hurt, and he can feel Justice's aggravation at Anders' fear.

'Nothing more than seek to help when you could no longer focus,' he answers, but Anders doesn't know if he can trust that answer.

"I'm sorry. I thought I'd fallen asleep, I didn't... Maker." He needs to do better. He needs to get a handle on this. Sure, he's doing better than Kirkwall, but just about anything is doing better than Kirkwall. The Veil had been so thin there, mages were constantly dying, and he has neither excuse for slip-ups here.

"He continued to treat patients that were already too unsettled by spirits to notice the change in you aside from the sudden shift in your demeanor. Justice is not a kind nor patient spirit for healing. He does the work and moves on- as soon as I noticed I brought you aside. If you are not awake enough to mind the both of you for your mutual safety? You both need rest." She squeezes his hand, peering at that shadow.

Answers. Certainty. A familiar silhouette, all long limbs and curled hair. She glowers until it shifts into something indistinct again.

"This is why I work with you. To protect you both." To protect Anders specifically- but saying that much when Justice may very well hear? "He was curt and surly but I have been around such spirits for as long as I can remember. We are fine."

Justice feels vindicated, and Anders mentally apologizes, breathing out. He'd fear less if he could remember what happened when Justice took control, but it's been so long since that was possible. Anders works to recover his own mood, placing his free hand over his heart at what she's saying.

"That's the only reason why you work with me? I'm wounded." There's still shaken notes in his voice, but he's trying to tease too. "I could have sworn you liked having Purrelden around and kept me for that reason. She'll be hurt too. Though she's climbing on Nate right now, or was when I last saw the two of them. You could always befriend him and have time with my cat."

Another breath, and his hand drops from his chest before he gives hers one more squeeze.

"I'll get some rest. I'm sorry. I'd not meant to slip up, and I'm working on it."

"I suppose you do stand around and look pretty quite well when you're not pouting." Filters, where are they? Not around at the moment. She's too tired and too stressed but- he will sleep and she will meditate in the interim to make certain Justice does not get ideas and the shadow of a demon lingering about will fuck all the way off.

All of the way off.

She stands, tugging his hands after her in lieu of talking for the moment. Off to a quiet (relatively) nook of the tents there is a single cot well away from coughing patients and the research area, piled high with pillows and quilts. "Shall I fetch Purrelden to rest with you- or would you like to sleep on your own?"

He's going to enjoy remembering that comment. He's still pretty in her eyes despite everything and that's weirdly nice. Anders gets up with her and follows, holding her hand and enjoying the contact. Also nice? The sight of all of those pillows and blankets.

Releasing her hand, Anders gets to work on his bootlaces before answering. "I prefer sleeping with company." There's no wink, no flash of a smile to it because he's not actually hitting on her, just flirting for the fun of flirting. "More seriously, if you'd not mind, I'd like having her here. She's mostly with him simply so I don't have to worry about her while healing. He won't miss her."

They need more pillows in their tent, he decides as he climbs in. They seriously need more pillows. Once he's done buying Zevran a whole lot of drinks, it will be pillow time.

"One moment." She pats his back idly, contact out of habit from when they would share tea and he was still Detlef- parting without a grounding touch simply wasn't something she could manage. A way to remind herself that she was alive, he was real, and all was well. Now it's...simply habit. One she has yet to break herself of though not for lack of trying.

Adelaide slips away and so too does the shadow wander off after-

The constant blue glow of Compassion? Lingers with Anders. Offers warmth to the pillows and the blankets with a touch, shape equally indistinct. Humming quietly something soft and Orlesian. One of the songs Adelaide sang for Anders that night at the bonfire, when everything had been warm and beautiful and painless. Pale blue brushes through Anders' hair- Compassion caring even if Adelaide cannot be quite so certain, moving away only when she slips back into the curtained off area with a sleeping kitten bundled close to her chest. "She did not quite wish to leave him."

He's missed both of their touches. Adelaide's is the most recently gained and the most recently lost, but for years he'd worked with Compassion, up until the moment he'd joined with Justice, and he'd not really gotten the chance to say goodbye. This isn't his Compassion, but the touch is the same.

Anders closes his eyes as Compassion starts to sing, fighting to keep too many emotions from overflowing. He has more than he'd dreamed of, more than he could have dared hope already. This feeling of... whatever it is, needs to be gotten under control.

When Adelaide comes back in he opens his eyes again, smiling faintly at the slumbering kitten, feeling a little guilty about depriving her of Nate if she'd wanted to stay. But the archer will probably rest better without her as Anders will sleep better with her. He reaches up to take her with a murmured thanks, letting the kitten burrow against him in the seconds it takes her to fall back asleep.

"She is caring itself." His eyes linger on Adelaide as he says it, leaving the 'she' open to interpretation as Justice bristles. Purrelden, Compassion, Adelaide. His feelings for all of them are only going to cause more problems in Justice's opinion, but there's nothing he can do to get Anders focused only on priorities. He's tried.

"Wake me before too long, please?" He tries to fight off a yawn and fails, eyes already closing a little. It's comfortable here. "I don't want to overburden the team. We're all tired as it is." Not like if she disagrees he'll be able to stay awake at this point.

"She is, isn't she?" Adelaide chooses to think it the kitten, her eyes more on Purrelden than Anders or Compassion. Even with handing her off she cannot quite manage it without one last lingering scratch under Purrelden's chin, pausing only to tuck the blankets more securely around Anders' shoulders out of habit. Nightly check ins with her own students made it quick and but not entirely impersonal.

Even if it is a terrible idea.

"You are going to sleep for at least two hours, Anders. You need it." More than that, most likely. They have extra hands for the time being- there is only so much even they can do for this. "Sleep. I'll wake you and take my turn."

Two hours seems a bit long to Justice and he says as much to Anders, but Anders thinks it might be needed. They can't keep operating on reserves. He's also far less inclined to argue as she's just tucked him in.

"Thank you," he says instead of teasingly asking if she'll tell him a bedtime story because he's not a complete idiot. 'I would not be so convinced of that,' Justice counters and Anders sighs before closing his eyes. Sleep comes quickly, thankfully.

It starts as one of his happier dreams, cold rain soaking him but he's out in the rain and there's a satisfaction in that despite how he still hates the cold. There's wind, too, but it's not blowing that hard - he's running into it. Its bite feels like hope, and even Compassion can feel and echo his joy. A trip and he's rolling down the tree-covered hill, mud everywhere, and he laughs anyway. There are creeks everywhere. He'll jump in one. He can jump in one.

But there's a shift, an awareness that comes just before the first torch flares into life ahead of him, the first shout comes from the right. Elation transforms into fear when there's another noise from the left. They're ahead of him and flanking him. All they need is a clear line of sight, and up ahead is a clearing.

Anders turns and runs back. There's got to be a way to lose them. He can't give up. He can't go back, not again, not when he's finally felt rain once more, not to those walls, and he prays desperately to the Maker, Andraste, anyone who will listen. They fail to hear him, or they fail to care. Either way, they fail, because there are more torches behind him and he doesn't even have time to wonder how they cornered him like this before Silence hits and the world becomes distant, fuzzy, and Compassion is gone. He only has a few seconds of panic before he's hit with Smite and sent to the ground, pain going through the whole of his body.

The laughter might be worse than the way everything hurts. They've won again and they know it, and shackles are snapped around his wrists and ankles. The first boot lands in his ribs moments after the snap of metal is done, the second is quick to follow, along with scattered words and phrases - troublemaker, waste, make him reconsider trying this again. His eyes can't focus, but there's a tug on his arms and suddenly he's pulled, hard, upward and forward and he lands on his face, being dragged as more laughter rings out. He can't get to his feet for more than a few seconds because they're chained together, and every time he fails there's more pain.

The world blurs all the more as his focus narrows down to breathing and trying to keep moving, ignoring the slickness that he's pretty sure is no longer rain alone on his wrists and the increasing burn in his shoulders. He falls into a rhythm, using his wrists to keep himself upright when he slips, hop-walking through mud, mentally repeating one thing over and over - he will be free.

Two hours- she passes in and out from the back room as she tends to patients, collects more supplies, or delves into what notes they've compiled for some source or means of treatment other than 'break the fever and hope for the best'. The green tinge of the fade around her vision does nothing but spur her onward; she must find an answer, she must focus on the task at hand. Everything else falls away save the sound of rain-

But it isn't raining. Or is it?

Adelaide peers through the dim light of the side room, staring at the flickers of hills and rain and water and the burst of elation at freedom- something she's never felt. Being cut loose had it's own shadows of dread. It isn't until the brush of Compassion that wasn't hers that it clicks- that the fragments come as a dream.

A memory.

Adelaide sets her mug aside and slips back to the cot as more fragments come together- the cuffs, the blood, the ache, the laughter- It's been more than two hours but not near as long as she'd like but- leaving him to this memory, to this dream? Seems untenable. Gently as possible she rests a hand on his shoulder to give him a shake. "Anders-"

Pain on the wrists and slipping in the rain and no small part of her heart breaks for him. It wasn't like this in the Spire for her. She'd never thought to wonder, to question.

He comes to himself with his heart still in his throat and fear in his mind, startled thanks to the shake, and for a few seconds he doesn't know where he is or even when. Anders stares at her, wide-eyed, for that time before blinking and realizing who it is in front of him. Adelaide. Right. He's in the healing tents, warm (too warm,) and he's slept for two hours. It doesn't feel it. It never does, when he runs down those hills again because he never makes it.

"Mm." He sits up, still a little out of it, and Purrelden slips down his chest into the crook of his arm, something she very much does not approve of if the tiny claws in his arm and the glare of her eyes are anything to go by.

Taking a breath, he shakes his head. "Sorry, cobwebs. Took a moment to wake up. Ready for your nap?" In a way, he's a little surprised she woke him. He'd half-expected her to 'forget' and let him wake up naturally, and for one of the first times, Justice seems to approve of her a little.

'She will waste our time with sleep, but not too much of it. It is... acceptable.' Anders doesn't bother commenting on how a little sleep isn't exactly a waste, he's still trying to mentally brush off the remnants of the dream as he gets up and offers the cot to her.

"You were dreaming." A beat, as that is not the most diplomatic way of describing the situation. "It...did not seem pleasant."

A little better but not perfect, she focuses on Purrelden instead of Anders as soothing that particular beast is simpler than attempting to elaborate. Even if everything in Compassion bids her to sooth, to ease burdens- she has done what she can for Anders being ill. Anything of the past is beyond her. Aside from a nudge, again, to forgive him, to be kind, Compassion keeps their mind to themselves.

It is not for them to force the issue.

"If I must sleep I suppose now is the time. There is something of a lull in patients right now." Shockingly enough.

"...Oh." Many of the details are slipping away, but because it's closer to memory than anything else and he's had the dream time and time again, he still knows the shape of it. He also gets the implication. Not that he was tossing and turning, as from what he knows he doesn't tend to do that, but that it came through in a way a few dreams have been coming through.

He's quiet for a moment as she pets the cat, trying to find words.

"Well. I did get fresh air out of it. Many apprentices and enchanters were jealous of that part. And rain. That was when I started to fall in love with rain, though I'm still a little disappointed whenever it's cold." When all else fails, make it less serious and painful.

'Making the issue smaller than it is will not help the cause, only your own feelings.' That's not a new complaint. He's heard it extremely often, even.

"In you go. I'll wake you after a time." Purrelden butts her head against Adelaide's hand, demanding more, paying him no heed, and he looks down at the little traitor. "You can borrow the little ingrate if you'd like, even. Apparently toppling from Nate's face is fine with her, but not my chest."

"There are some places in northern Orlais where it falls warm." Far from the mountains and Val Royeaux proper; it depends upon the season but-

That is thinking far ahead and assuming much. It is nothing she can offer; the small cottage has not been hers for thirty years. Whether or not she'd ever be invited again remains to be seen; even if she's missed it dearly. Less confining, less stiff, no real worries about The Game. The one place her family behaved like a family.

Purrelden has suddenly become terribly compelling. Adelaide keeps her eyes on the kitten, her own exhaustion limiting her filter to the bare minimum- but the offer warms her enough to look up with a hopeful smile. "Truly?"

Maybe one day he'll see those places, though chances are slim. He is who he is and the Blight runs through his veins. It could be nice to dream about anyway.

"Maybe your brother can send some of that with the next supply crate." Anders gives her a small smile that grows to reach his eyes at her smile and question. He'd not known she was that fond of cats. it's another point in her favor. "And yes."

He lifts the kitten up for a nose-to-nose touch before holding her out for Adelaide to take. "Don't worry if she takes a few moments to settle down, and if she drapes over your mouth and nose urge her up to over your eyes and she'll stay there instead. She likes faces."

It's a charming image, Anders and the kitten nose to nose. Compassion offers a wave of warmth and a nudge to rest- something she listens to and obeys easily enough, toeing off her shoes to slip under the furs of the cot. Purrelden is cradled to her chest as she settles, her hand gentle against the kitten's slim body. Much as she had when they played at tea before all this change, the kitten seems entranced with the dangling weight of Adelaide's braid as she tugs it out from under her.

"Strange little thing, isn't she?" Adelaide murmurs as she curls on her side, tugging the furs and throws up over her side, creating a soft little hollow for the kitten to explore at her leisure.

"All cats are. It's what makes them so charming. I've been trying to train her a little, but she's not quite as responsive to it as my last cat." That doesn't mean he loves her any less.

Purrelden starts inspecting the shape, nosing around and trying to decide if it's worthy of her, and he decides she'll be safe here.

"Rest well. I'll be back later. And behave as much as you're able, Purrelden." He offers them both another smile before heading out to check on the status of everything and see where he's needed.

"No more than two hours." She calls after Anders even as exhaustion drips and curls and drags her down, the soft thrumming of Purrelden's purr soothing the strain from her mind. It is easy to slip into warmth and rest, to drift in fever fogged dreaming to warmer, happier times. Sunlight through a window in the Spire, tucked in a chair in its library. Shelves upon shelves of books on magic, a scattering of notes, a younger self dozing half propped up against her own hand only to be shaken awake by a familiar hand and more familiar smile.

Tall, blond, smirkingly wicked in his own way but so, so easy to tease- the memories and dreams are indistinct. No demons, no tempting offers. At least not yet. Just the warmth of familiarity and the casual tangle of their fingers, the press of his lips against her shoulder as they studied, his confused pout when she makes him wait until this paper is finished. Even when there is only one chair there's playful wrestling, tugging at the sleeve of her robe or outright moments where he sprawled in her lap and refused to move until she offered him attention. She's young in these memories- happier, brighter, kinder. Setting aside work more often to debate sparkling versus still wine, this technique to another for magics, showing off casually her skills when they could get away with it. Here the templars didn't touch them, here they didn't care.

Tears, one night, as he clings. Indistinct murmuring in Orlesian- fear for what was to come. 'You have to come back.' he says, voice trembling. 'You have to be you.'

'They haven't tricked me yet' All the pride and certainty of youth, the arrogance of a mage untried and the memories of the actual harrowing are a smear of shadow and sound and unimportant in the face of stumbling out and being unable to find him. Of reading a letter- words shifting and blurring on the page, delivered by an anxious templar. Of sprinting to the library, halls endless and winding and circuitous and now, the whispers, now the demons.

'There is a cure if you can find him' they say, hands outstretched with familiar fingers, crackling with familiar laughter. 'We know the answer, you have to ask'

It is always hers for the asking, hers to have, and she can't. She screams, frost trailing in her wake and she finds him- she always finds him.

Snowing in the alcove they used to share and it hadn't been this cold- it is her fear made manifest, her grief. Sitting straight and flipping through a book methodically. Taking notes with a familiar scratch of pen to paper and his eyes when he looks up so flat.

So empty.

The brand burning on his skin still, sizzling with lyrium and pain and 'there is a cure if you can find him. We know where he is, we can show you, you can save him, only you can save him-'

Appealing to pride, to vanity, to grief long since abandoned-

Fire in the spire and the hurried sprint out, blood on marble and the children following behind with streaming eyes and shaking hands and he's still there- by the door. Eyes still blank, hands stiff and certain- as he holds a door shut behind him. Thudding against the weight of templars, of demons-

They're not making progress against this fever... but they're not losing much ground anymore. Maybe that's because of the limited amount of people? Skyhold is large for a fortress, but that's about it. At this point they have to make progress.

He sits down to go through the notes again a couple of hours later, looking for what they're missing. It's here. The answer is here. They just have to look at it the right way, consider all of the information they have, and not get distracted by quite the pretty blond mage standing nearby for just a moment before vanishing. Anders frowns. That hadn't been a spirit, and there's no point in demons tempting him. He's possessed.

Shaking his head, he goes back to the notes only to hear Adelaide talking about wine, and a male voice answering her. If someone woke up to talk to her about wine... He gets up and heads in, only to feel the whole of the scene, her fear and her pride and her loss. Anders bends down and rests a hand on her shoulder, murmuring her name.

Their argument takes a different shape, now, with this. But he'd think she'd want a cure, a way to bring him back. Maybe she's afraid of more pain. He can't blame her for that.

"Adelaide," he says again. They're in so much danger while this fever is around, and it's not just from present-day things.

'Addie' the ghost says in a flicker of the Fade- smiling and bright and warm- flat and empty and branded both. Urging her to go before she's caught and sent to the Senior Enchanters again-

To go before she's caught and killed.

It'd given her a scrap of raw, ragged hope that night and she clings and shudders, curled inward in a tight ball around the hollow where Purrelden sleeps in a warm, thrumming puddle of fur and pillows. It hurt then to hear it, hurt worse to think of it, aches to dream of it. Having that smile, having him here. Supporting her, letting her talk, pointing out flaws in her arguments, reminding her to be Addie and not just the Enchanter LeBlanc-

Adelaide, she hears, and starts awake with a sharp twitch away from that hand, eyes wide and damp and wild for the moment it takes her to place herself.

Reasons she sleeps alone and wakes without intervention.

Reasons her students leave her to it.

He doesn't reach out to touch her again, letting her come to wakefulness and knowing exactly how he must have looked. Purrelden, on the other hand, mews in protest at the jerk. She keeps being disturbed and she reaches up to put a paw on Adelaide as if to still her.

"This fever is not kind," he says after a few moments. "The good news is no one new has come in, and no one has run away from the tents only to be dragged back."

Justice is rumbling about fear and the Chantry winning every time someone reacts with fear to their own abilities or to mages in general, and Anders wishes he could simply cut the spirit off, stop him from talking.

"And please ignore Justice." Fear is bad to react to, horrible, he agrees, but he's not tactless enough to say anything remotely like that. She has lost. There is no point to drive that home, no point to lecture.

"Désolé , chaton." She murmurs, focusing first on Purrelden. The poor thing keeps attempting to sleep and everyone keeps moving her. How distressing that must be. Adelaide lets her eyes focus on the soft pattern to her fur, smoothing it back into place where she'd mussed it with her twitching.

No one new, good. No one running- better.

He'd seen- they'd seen if Justice and his grumbling is anything to go by and it stings to know that vulnerability has been witnessed. That grief. Compassion wells and settles, curling about her shoulders like a familiar cloak- reproach is not often something they feel but it sits thick in the air after Justice's mumbling. They speak, resonant and melodic 'There is nothing just in ignorant commentary.'

Adelaide snorts a soft, bittersweet laugh at that. "He reminds me of a particularly stubborn and insufferable Senior Enchanter in the Spire."

OPEN: Cloudreach Event

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